Lung cancer accounts for the most cancer-related deaths in both men and women. Worldwide, lung cancer is the most common cancer in terms of both incidence and mortality. In 2008, there were 1.61 million new cases, and 1.38 million deaths due to lung cancer. The highest rates are in Europe and North America.
Since 1987, more women have died each year from lung cancer than from breast cancer. Death rates have continued to decline significantly in men from 1991-2003 by about 1.9% per year. Female lung cancer death rates are approaching a plateau after continuously increasing for several decades. These trends in lung cancer mortality reflect the decrease in smoking rates over the past 30 years.
An estimated 230,000 new cases of lung cancer and 160,000 deaths due to lung cancer are expected in 2013 in the USA according to the national cancer institute (NCI).
Lung cancer is classified clinically as small cell (13%, SCLC) or non-small cell (87%, NSCLC) for the purposes of treatment. Prognosis is generally poor. Of all people with lung cancer, 15% survive for five years after diagnosis. Stage is often advanced at the time of diagnosis. At presentation, 30-40% of cases of NSCLC are stage IV, and 60% of SCLC are stage IV.
Treatment options are determined by the type (small cell or non-small cell) and stage of cancer and include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted biological therapies such as bevacizumab (AVASTIN®) and erlotinib (TARCEVA®). For localized cancers, surgery is usually the treatment of choice. Recent studies indicate that survival with early-stage, non-small cell lung cancer is improved by chemotherapy following surgery. Because the disease has usually spread by the time it is discovered, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are often used, sometimes in combination with surgery. Chemotherapy alone or combined with radiation is the usual treatment of choice for small cell lung cancer; on this regimen, a large percentage of patients experience remission, which is long lasting in some cases.
The 1-year relative survival for lung cancer has slightly increased from 37% in 1975-1979 to 42% in 2002, largely due to improvements in surgical techniques and combined therapies. However, the 5-year survival rate for all stages combined is only 16%. The survival rate is 49% for cases detected when the disease is still localized; however, only 16% of lung cancers are diagnosed at this early stage.
Despite the above, there remains a need for new efficacious and safe treatment option for cancers such as lung cancer, in particular non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastric cancers and brain tumors of different phenotypes which improve the well-being of the patients by not using excessive chemotherapeutic agents or other agents that may lead to severe side effects.
The present invention employs peptides that stimulate the immune system of the patient and act as anti-tumor-agents in a non-invasive fashion.